There are more hostages in Russian captivity than in Ukrainian.

The head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said that almost half of those in Russian captivity are civilians. As he stated in an interview with Voice of America, there are many women and children hostage.

"About 40% of those who are being held hostage are civilians. Just civilians. Therefore, in principle, it is clear that our number is less. We do not take civilians prisoners. There are a lot of women, unfortunately, and children, all kinds of elders, postmen, railroad workers, mayors, and janitors."

Russia, in its captivity, has more hostages than Ukraine. An important factor in this was the period of the start of a full-scale invasion and the situation at Azovstal.

“Unfortunately, they have more prisoners of war than we do. This is very easy to explain. First, they captured 90% of all prisoners of war in the first days. The step we took," the head of the Min Directorate of Intelligence said.

Budanov also said whether there are such prisoners that Ukraine does not know about:

"Most likely, there is someone, but, believe me, 99% of them are known," the intelligence officer added.